Thank You, Pippin
by irishjedi
Summary: When Legolas looses his bow Pippin finds it for him so Legolas thanks him. Vaguely slashly fluff. R&R pretty please. Very first fic so please say nice things unless it genuinely sucks and I’m just too full of myself to realize it


Summary: When Legolas looses his bow Pippin finds it for him so Legolas thanks him. Vaguely slashly fluff. R&R pretty please. Very first fic so please say nice things (unless it genuinely sucks and I'm just too full of myself to realize it)

Disclaimer: This is Tolkien's sandbox. I'm just playing in it.

Movie-Book?: its been almost 6 years since I read the book but I watch the movies almost once a week so we'll say movie even though these events took place in neither.

*it goes back and forth from Legolas's POV to 3rd person so don't get confused*

Thank You, Pippin.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

A sense of futility had fallen over the Fellowship as we made our way back down Caradhras. Gandalf was not alert, he was distracted by some worry he would not share with us. Something he feared in Moria but did not dare speak for chance of discouraging Frodo.

The way down is clear now. A deep crevice that ends in blackness follows our path for a time, and then we will be on solid ground again. Until then we must mind the hobbits, especially Peregrin, for fear they will fall in. We will be where we began our trek _up_ the mountain in two days or less. From there we will venture beneath it.

Redhorn is riddled with caves and deep ravines; there is much that could hide within them. The Misty Mountains are not deserted. Wild men, nomads, from Rohan roam these places. Something is not right. There are sounds here that do not belong to nature.

"Aragorn! We must hurry!"

By the time he's looked at me, it's too late. Men have come from the cliffs above. They're arrows are but crude wooden shards set aflame, I fire back but we are out numbered by nearly twenty.

"Down the slopes quickly!" Gandalf cries. He and Gimli lead the hobbits under the steep sides for protection. I return fire and run (backwards) but they are advancing fast down the cliff face.

"Duck, Legolas!" Boromir warns me and I fall flush with the ground. I leap quickly to my feet and in doing so catch the strap of my quiver on the cliff's edge. I am pulled over on to my back and nearly over the side. I urgently grasp for rock and find only air I toss my bow up and crawl back to the edge.

Before I can reach it a gust of wind catches my bow and blows it over the side. I stop where I stand, frozen with shock.

"Legolas run!" I do not know who screamed to me but they did it many times before I realized that I was being fired upon. I ran, without knowing it. Had I really just lost my bow?

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

They did not follow us; they only ran us off of their mountain then went back into their caves. We stopped beneath a protective overhang for the night and Gandalf allowed Sam to start a fire. I remember very little except of sitting next to my quiver feeling as though I'd lost an arm. Estel and Gimli tried to comfort me but I scarcely listened to them.

"You may have mine" Estel offered to me "you have more skill with it anyway"

It is not the same. I am useless without my bow. I have had it for centuries. It was so accustomed to my hand and arm that their outline had made an indention in the strong flexible wood of my homeland. I sat so lost in self pity that I did not notice the youngest hobbit staring at me.

"Aragorn, I'm going to go and fill the canteens." And with that Peregrin Took left camp.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

He knew perfectly well that if he was careful enough then no one would hear him. So Pippin walked on stealthy feet back up the mountain trail to where he'd seen the elf loose his bow. Pippin hadn't lied by the way; he did fill the canteens first then after arguing with himself for a few minutes decided that maybe if he could just see the bow he could go and tell Legolas so he could get it.

There were no signs of the mountain men who had attacked them before but that didn't really mean anything. Pippin kept a sharp ear out for them, just in case.

"Oh, you've got to do something" he told himself. Poor Legolas just looked so sad… if it had been him that had lost something so precious (no pun intended) then he was surely the elf would have tried to help him. Approaching the edge slowly, he looked over the side and saw a drop that must have reached into the mines below. "Legolas I'm sorry but I just don't think you're going to get it- wait a minute. It can't be. It is! Its! Ha Ha! I've foun-!" He stopped shouting abruptly when he remembered where he was. The bow was in fact there, down and far to the left, caught in a tree limb. The oak stood on a ledge right below him. "I can get down there easy" it seemed like only a simple jump into the branches.

Pippin put the canteens down and sat on the edge of the cliff. He scooted forward slowly until he dropped into the leaves…head first.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Sam offered me some food, I only shook my head. He seemed a bit hurt but I took little notice. I was not trying to be cruel. I just… well I wasn't trying to be cruel. To think of all the things I'd been through with it to loose it now of all times when I would need it most. When Frodo would need it most. That's what I said to Frodo before the council of Elrond "and you have my bow". What did he have now but a dainty princeling?

"Where's Pippin?" Merry said it looking around our campsite. "He went to fill the canteens" Aragorn answered him. Merry glanced at the setting sun. "That was almost an hour ago. It shouldn't take this long"

"Fool of a Took" Gandalf muttered. "We do not have time for this!"

Merry climbed a rock and looked up the trail. "Wait! He's coming! He's coming! It's alright."

"Good" Boromir said as he sat back down. "Fool of a Took" Gandalf said again quietly.

Merry stayed on the rock watching his cousin's approach. "Oh it can't be, it can't possibly be." The hobbit started laughing. "Aragorn!" he called "I believe my cousin has just entered formal competition with you"

"What?"

"He's vying for your status as Legolas's best friend"

I looked over at Estel "What does he mean?"

"Look" Merry pointed out up the trail. Aragorn looked where he pointed and "Legolas! Come here!"

I stood and walked over to them and the others followed, now interested. For a moment I didn't understand, and then I saw what Pippin was holding for he held it up high over his head, waved and pointed to it.

"He's got my bow!' I cried "He found my bow!" I leapt off the rock and ran down to where he now stood. I didn't even notice the state he was in; I just took my beloved weapon from him and held it hardly believing it was real. It was completely un-marred. Aragorn and Merry got to us first.

Merry gasped "Pippin! You're all scratched up!" now that I did look at him, he was covered in many small cuts with some bruises beginning to darken here and there.

Aragorn handled him gently, looking at his face. The others came up behind us and Frodo seemed upset by the look of his baby cousin. "How…how did you…get it- eh find it without those wild men seeing you?"

"I'm alright" he told us pulling away from Estel and handing him the canteens. "I just went to see if it was really gone… you just seemed so sad" he looked at me and smiled a little. "Then when I did find it, it was right there in the tree below the ledge so… I…I just jumped down into branches tossed it up on to the side and then climbed back up. It was fine. There was no sign of those men from before." Gimli laughed a little "Gandalf you right, Hobbits really are amazing creatures."

Sam being ever the voice of reason "Well if was that easy how did all that happen?" indicating the many little wounds. "and why didn't you just come get Legolas and let him get it himself?"

"Because if I had, by the time he'd gotten back the wind would have blown it away and then it really would've been gone forever."

Hearing that: "gone forever", I clutched my bow very glad to hold it again.

Boromir seemed to sense an argument coming "Oh it doesn't matter now. The important thing is we have the hobbit and the bow back, let's just be happy we do"

Until now I hadn't said anything but I realized that there was something I should say. "Thank you, Pippin"

He looked at me and smiled as a small trickle of blood ran down the corner of his eye. "You're welcome Legolas."

Merry patted his back and led him back to camp. "Come on Pip; let me put something on those." They followed them and only Estel and I were left behind.

"That was very brave of him you know, hobbits are not accustomed to having their feet off the ground" Estel told me.

"It was and I am very grateful that he did it but I do not understand why he did. I've hardly addressed him six sentences since we left Rivindell. Why would he risk his life to do something for me?" I asked him. For I did not understand. Elves are kind and fair but we are necessarily that empathetic. Had this happened in the Mirkwood even with my own brothers, they would not have done this for me, at least not without my asking.

"It is just as he said my friend, you seemed sad. I'm sure the look in your eyes broke his young heart. Remember Pippin is still very much a child, nearly twenty years younger than Frodo. It would not have mattered if you had said nothing to him at all; you are still his friend in his eyes and hobbits care deeply for their friends, willing to do most anything for them. Look at Sam." I did and he was right.

With that he smiled and left me thanking Samwise as he took a plate of browned meat and potatoes. Estel is much, much younger than me but still he is much wiser. I watch them all for a moment; Merry applies dabs of Gandalf's ointment to Pippin's scrapes being mindful of his little cousin's comfort. Even so, Pippin flinches.

My precious (still no pun intended) bow seems less valuable to me now. That this brave young person would honor me with his friendship in such a way is an even greater gift. I must find a way to thank him.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

I take the second watch that night after Gimli. He grumbles at me as I take his place and he finds his bed roll. The night is cool and quiet. The men in the mountains are visible only through an occasional wisp of black smoke against the clear white snow. It is amusing that we should fear to keep a fire at night that they might see us but we can see theirs.

I sit with my back against the rock behind me with my bow and quiver at my side. Ready to draw and fire at a moments notice as any fine archer should be. It is silly of me I know but I squeeze my bow again.

Hobbits can be very quite and barely noticeable when they want to be. I am very sure that the wild men did not hear Pippin coming up the mountain because I, with my elvish hearing, did not notice him coming to join me until he was at my side.

"Good evening Legolas" he said brightly but quietly so not wake the rest of the Fellowship. It was difficult to look at his face; even in the dark I could see the all the small scars he had acquired at my benefit. "Hello Pippin"

"I couldn't sleep, I thought maybe I'd come pester you for awhile." He said still smiling.

"You do not pester me, my friend and I more than welcome your company" he sits next to me looking out at the vast dark but sparkling sky.

"In the Shire, Merry and I would lay awake for hours at night in the grassy fields in Buckland smoking and staring at the stars. They almost seem closer here."

"That sounds beautiful; I should like to see the Shire someday." He misses his idyllic home up in these cold, grassless mountains. I can understand, now that I am away from it, I miss my dark but familiar Mirkwood.

"You should come and stay with us for a few days when all this is over" his smile turns a bit sideways "assuming we all live of course."

"Perhaps we will, yes I think I will come and see you when this quest is done and successful. Please, tell me more of your home."

He does, he tells me all about Hobbit holes and the Party Tree, the Green Dragon and its fine quality of beer, spending his summers with Merry and his grandparents, stealing watermelons and vegetables from some unfortunate hobbit by the name of Maggot.

I laughed at the mental image of little Merry and Pippin running away with a huge watermelon between them. I told him of my childhood, growing up among the trees.

He rolls his head along his shoulder blades stretching and making a slightly pained noise.

"Is something wrong?" I ask him.

"Oh, not really, I'm just a bit sore. I'm not used to all this traveling and…well…" he nods in the direction of my bow. I am struck with a pang of guilt.

"I'm sorry, if you like I could rub your back for you." He gives me an amused look. "I usually have a massage every night before I go to bed" I tell him.

"Hmm, Legolas you are a Prince aren't you?" he giggles, at the idea I suppose. "You wouldn't mind?"

"I assure you it would be the least I could do." he nods "take your shirt off." He unbuttons the light linen shirt and slides it off his shoulders revealing a pale, slight torso. I can see his breast bone and the faintest outline if his ribs. I can scarcely believe anyone who eats so much as he does could be so thin. Still, he is terribly beautiful; his curls fall softly on the back of his bare neck and in front of his bright green eyes.

I stretch my legs out and he lies down over my thighs. I breathe on my hands for a moment before I touch him since the air is quite cool. Very gently I cup my hands around his tiny shoulders and knead the nape of his neck with my thumbs. Were I too press to hard, surely I would break one of his small bones. His soft hairless skin is pleasant to the touch. Pippin makes a contented noise so I assume I am not hurting him and I continue down his back.

I cannot help but muse at the position he is in. Were he moved up ever so slightly… the situation would much different.

I finish his back and tell him to turn over. He does giving me another confused look. I smile and do the essentially the same thing from the other side. Seeing his face makes it easier to judge how hard to press on his tender front. As I approach his groin, I consider it for a moment but decide against it. He really is too young and it might embarrass him. I do not know how such things are done among hobbits. Instead I rest my fingers lightly on his tummy and tickle him. He giggles and squirms away. Sitting up he positions himself on my lap with his back against my chest and his legs resting on mine. He notices that when his legs are fully stretched out they still only reach my knees. I laugh and wrap my arms around him. Without intending to I have taken a quite a liking to this hobbit, not that I'm upset about that.

"Thank you, Legolas I feel much better now. I'll get off of you if you want me to." His little head tilts back so he can see my face. I wonder if he realizes how endearing he is?

"No, you're fine. You may rest there if you like" I wrap my cloak around the both of us.

"Mmm, alright. Goodnight Legolas" he says sleepily as he snuggles his little head into the crook of my arm. "Goodnight my little Pippin" I give him a light kiss right above his ear and lay my cheek on top of his soft curly head.

He was sleeping soundly in my arms, shirtless, when Estel came to take the next watch. He looked as though he were about to say something and I held my finger to my lips to silence him. I did not want to wake Pippin nor did I really wish to try and explain this to him. I just stood carefully with Pippin in my arms, took his shirt from the ground and smiled at Estel as I went back into the camp. Thankfully, everyone was asleep. Putting him down very softly next to Merry, I covered him first with his shirt then the unused half of Merry's blanket.

I kicked my own bedroll open next to Pippin and lie down watching him in the faint moonlight. In his sleep he reached for my hand and I let him take it. I had no idea that I had left my bow and quiver out on the rocks. My only real concern lie right beside me.

"Thank you, Pippin" I whispered.


End file.
